The Human Factors and Ergonomics Society invites you to attend the 2012 Symposium on Human Factors and Ergonomics in Health Care, to be held March 12–14 at the Marriott Baltimore Waterfront Hotel in Baltimore, Maryland. Mark your calendars for this exciting first-time event.

The symposium aims to bring together professionals and other stakeholders in both the scientific and practice realms of the health-care community and to bridge knowledge gaps among them. HF/E professionals will present the latest research, best practices, and case histories.

Lucian L. Leape, MD, kicks off the symposium with the opening plenary address on Monday, March 12. Leape is Adjunct Professor of Health Policy in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Harvard School of Public Health. A health policy analyst whose research has focused on patient safety and quality of care, Leape was one of the founders of the National Patient Safety Foundation.

Other symposium speakers will address a variety of topics and perspectives in health-care human factors/ergonomics, with presentations organized along three main tracks: Patient and Health-Care Provider Safety, Health-Care Information Technology, and Medical Device Design.

Attendees will have the opportunity to network with a broad range of audiences across the health-care industry, academia, consulting, and regulatory agencies and gain valuable knowledge on the latest in science, regulatory requirements, best practices, and industry needs related to health-care human factors/ergonomics.

We look forward to seeing you at the 2012 Symposium on HF/E in Health Care!

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The Human Factors and Ergonomics Society is the world's largest nonprofit individual-member, multidisciplinary scientific association for human factors/ergonomics professionals, with more than 4,500 members globally. HFES members include psychologists and other scientists, designers, and engineers, all of whom have a common interest in designing systems and equipment to be safe and effective for the people who operate and maintain them. Watch science news stories about other HF/E topics at the HFES Web site. “Human Factors and Ergonomics: People-Friendly Design Through Science and Engineering”